Do you think Math is useless?

  • Thread starter JaeDan 101
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Do you think math is useless?

  • Yes

  • No

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JaeDan 101

JaeDan 101

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United States
Los Santos, San Andreas
complex_remark8
In my opinion, it's useless. Why do I need to learn binomials, trinomials etc.? I don't even need it in my life. It's so hard to understand the symbols and this makes us dull.

Note: This is my opinion, so don't laugh, attack or debate me.
 
I think I use math literally every single day of my life. From basic day to day things to more extensive/difficult projects with my work.

I really can't think of any reason why math would be considered useless. Some aspects of math may seem more useless for day to day usage, but math in general is far from useless.

JaeDan 101
Note: This is my opinion, so don't laugh, attack or debate me.
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If you don't want people to debate, the easiest way to do that would be to not make threads that introduce it.
 
JaeDan 101
In my opinion, it's useless.
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Right now whilst you’re studying it, it probably doesn’t seem to serve much of a function in life. Hold that thought for 20 years and reevaluate your opinion.

It may be that you want to work a brainless dead end job which doesn’t require maths. That’s fine. Alternatively, you may want to find a career outside of... I don’t know. I thought for a few minutes about what doesn’t require maths and there’s not much.

Admittedly, plenty of areas of maths may be useless to you throughout your life, but you won’t know that until you’re old and grey. I never thought I’d need probability until I started a hobby well after schooling which required me to understand odds and percentages.

If it really bothers you that you have to study maths, just choose not to learn it. You have that option. Down the line, if you need a specific maths skill for a job or whatever, pick up a book and teach yourself.
 
Math is used in just about every aspect of human life, small and large, and is responsible for a huge amount of progression of said human life. You wrote your message on a computer of some sort and posted it to the internet thanks to math. So, I'm gonna have to go with no. No it isn't useless.

Is math uninteresting to you as a study area? Sounds like it, so maybe try something else.
 
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Fractions, addition and subtraction are useful. But what I'm saying is high school math
Edit: oops, wrong spelling
 
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Math is a universal language. That being said, it is useless for me personally because I already speak two languages. And I don't understand math, it is too difficult.

1 + 1 = 14 (you see :ouch:)
 
Given about half of my job involves mathematical calculations I prefer to view maths as pretty useful myself. There are always going to be specific areas of maths that are less useful for some people than others, but there are many areas that make life considerably easier on a daily basis.

I get where it can be an extrelmely dull subject for some people, but it's definitely not useless and all of these areas of maths that are perhaps less useful on a day to day basis for some people come into thier own for others.
 
The only math you need to know is 11 is 1 louder than 10. :P


JaeDan 101
Fractions, addition and subtraction are useful. But what I'm saying is high school math
Edit: oops, wrong spelling
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It only seems pointless because you don’t really do the problems on paper like you did/do in school. In reality you use the knowledge you leaned in those classes far more than you realize.
 
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Some of the higher order mathematical functions might seem useless and depending on where you end up in life, you may not use them again. However, in learning those things, you are solidifying your base knowledge in everything that you absolutely will use in life. There are not many careers where a solid understanding of maths is not useful.
 
Sounds like a question to put to your teachers. If they can't give you a satisfactory answer, then you really need better teachers.

But when you pose the question, do it with an attitude of interest, not despair. Ask what kinds of skill the mathematics you're learning will apply to, rather than "Why the $&%^ do I need this #$%!?" The catch-22 of math beyond basic arithmetic is you don't get the practical application until you have learned the mathematics. As you move up through school, there will be things you can't do without what you're supposed to have learned earlier.

OTOH, if you don't want a college education or a professional job later in life, then by all means don't worry about the mathematics.
 
wfooshee
OTOH, if you don't want a college education or a professional above minimum wage job later in life, then by all means don't worry about the mathematics.
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FTFY. I have friends in the trades who use maths way more than my PhD educated ass.
 
JaeDan 101
Fractions, addition and subtraction are useful. But what I'm saying is high school math
Edit: oops, wrong spelling
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Many professions, especially those in the sciences, use “high school math” (in fact, math beyond high school math) extensively. If you want to be an engineer, a doctor, an economist, etc, you better know math. Lots of it. It can be tough to realize that so much of the technology we have today would never be possible without math.

It seems like you’re at a “why do I have to learn this when I can learn other things?!” phase. As others have mentioned, the skills you learn in high school math go beyond the classroom, and you often don’t realize it. You seem to be pretty young yet, so keep on searching for what you want to do in life. No need to rush.
 
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As other people have already mentioned or hinted at, whether math as a more complex area of study is useful or not entirely depends on how you choose to live your life. Some people can get by knowing absolutely no math while others go out of their way to know as much of it as possible. Of course everyone on the planet should know the basics of addition, multiplication, subtraction and division, but depending on your occupation that might be all you need to know, or you might never even touch numbers in your career at all.
 
JaeDan 101
In my opinion, it's useless. Why do I need to learn binomials, trinomials etc.? I don't even need it in my life. It's so hard to understand the symbols and this makes us dull.

Note: This is my opinion, so don't laugh, attack or debate me.
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A binomial is a polynomial with 2 terms. Here's an example of a polynomial:

maxresdefault.jpg


t is time, v is velocity, and a is acceleration. With this, you can calculate the movement of an object and know where it will end up. It's also related to the calculation of velocity through integration and derivatives, but you'd need to understand polynomials before you start studying integration. This is a basic building block of physics.

Almost every piece of technology, especially in a smartphone (which has accelerometers and communicates through RF, and performs complex GPS calculations to determine position in addition to all of the raw computing and software), requires much more advanced math than polynomials. Math that's far more complex than this is in everything from solar panels to water treatment, construction to air travel, fast food to finance.

I think the real question you want to ask yourself is what kind of person you want to be, and what kind of things you want to do while you're alive. If you answer that, you might know whether understanding math will be important to it. The answer might be no, but you'll be missing a much deeper understanding about how things work, and how humans improve their lives.
 
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JaeDan 101
In my opinion, it's useless. Why do I need to learn binomials, trinomials etc.? I don't even need it in my life. It's so hard to understand the symbols and this makes us dull.
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JaeDan 101
Fractions, addition and subtraction are useful. But what I'm saying is high school math
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Why are you learning high school math aged 20?
 
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Famine
Why are you learning high school math aged 20?
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Thought he was about 12/13. He talked about playing a game since he was 5 and it barely came out in 2014 as far as I can tell.
 
You need to learn math because you have no idea what career you're going to end up in. Math might be important, or it might not be, but in school, you really don't know. I was never great at math and had a tutor all through high school and college since the only thing that ever made sense to me was geometry, still I stuck with it since I wasn't sure what I was going to be doing as a career. Even though I was going to college for archaeology math was still important since I frequently had to figure out the area and volume of artefacts.

Even if you don't want to learn advanced math, it's still important to learn basic concepts since you will need those throughout your life regardless of what you do. Even something as simple as a project around the house is going to require you to measure and do some math to figure how much of something you need to buy. Also, if you ever have kids, you'll need to help them with their math homework so that is a pretty good reason for learning it as well. Not being able to help your kid with something isn't exactly the best feeling...although I am not looking forward to whatever BS method they are teaching now (common core I think it's called?).
 
I forgot to mention that I voted "no". It is not useless at all. The opposite.
 
Famine
Why are you learning high school math aged 20?
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Held back a few years?

High school maths at college?

I retook GCSE maths at college for a better result. I was 18.
 
JaeDan 101
I'm 13, I faked my age before
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Oh what a shock. The guy from Philippines who's best buds with the other guy from Philippines who lied about his age to get around our age restriction and we had to ban because his membership was breaking the law has also lied about his age.

There's literally no need to lie about being any age when you sign up if you're 13 or older, because no other age but under 13 will stop you from signing up... which begs the question of why you did - or, more pertinently, if you in fact are or are also 11 years old, just like your friend...


DM me some proof of age.


(for reference, it's not even slightly a shock; we called it in the staff forums a month back)
 
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Like, well, almost everyone that's posted in this thread, I use math/maths daily to calculate square footage, percentages, percentages of percentages, etc.

That said, the velocity/ acceleration/ time example @Danoff posted will never be used by me but without such things, landing a rover and helicopter on another planet would be impossible so I'm very happy there are people that can do it.

Math is far from useless.
 
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